As its greatest ally the Soviet Union collapsed, Cuba remained a pariah Communist state at a cost of becoming one of the world’s poorest nations.

When his brother opened the door to a thawing of relations with the US in 2014, Castro cautiously blessed the deal – but only after a month-long silence.

Fidel Castro was born on August 13, 1926, in eastern Cuba where his father, a Spanish immigrant, organised labour for US sugar companies.

After attending Jesuit schools he received law and social science degrees from the University of Havana.

His first foray into violent subversion came in 1953 when he and Raul joined rebels in an attack on a military barracks in the eastern city of Santiago. Most of their comrades were killed and the brothers were jailed.

After receiving a pardon he fled to Mexico and raised a rebel force – supported by Che Guevara and others – who in 1956 sailed to Cuba, only for most to die in a botched landing.

But after rallying support in the country’s eastern mountains he led a revolutionary force into Havana and unseated Batista on New Year’s Day, 1959.

Declaring victory, he said: “I am not interested in power nor do I envisage assuming it at any time.

“All that I will do is to make sure that the sacrifices of so many compatriots should not be in vain, whatever the future may hold in store for me.”